xref: /illumos-gate/usr/src/man/man3c/fsync.3c (revision 14d44f2248cc2a54490db7f7caa4da5968f90837)
te
Copyright (c) 2008 Sun Microsystems, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Copyright 1989 AT&T
The contents of this file are subject to the terms of the Common Development and Distribution License (the "License"). You may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
You can obtain a copy of the license at usr/src/OPENSOLARIS.LICENSE or http://www.opensolaris.org/os/licensing. See the License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations under the License.
When distributing Covered Code, include this CDDL HEADER in each file and include the License file at usr/src/OPENSOLARIS.LICENSE. If applicable, add the following below this CDDL HEADER, with the fields enclosed by brackets "[]" replaced with your own identifying information: Portions Copyright [yyyy] [name of copyright owner]
FSYNC 3C "Feb 5, 2008"
NAME
fsync - synchronize changes to a file
SYNOPSIS

#include <unistd.h>

int fsync(int fildes);
DESCRIPTION

The fsync() function moves all modified data and attributes of the file descriptor fildes to a storage device. When fsync() returns, all in-memory modified copies of buffers associated with fildes have been written to the physical medium. The fsync() function is different from sync(), which schedules disk I/O for all files but returns before the I/O completes. The fsync() function forces all outstanding data operations to synchronized file integrity completion (see fcntl.h(3HEAD) definition of O_SYNC.)

The fsync() function forces all currently queued I/O operations associated with the file indicated by the file descriptor fildes to the synchronized I/O completion state. All I/O operations are completed as defined for synchronized I/O file integrity completion.

RETURN VALUES

Upon successful completion, 0 is returned. Otherwise, -1 is returned and errno is set to indicate the error. If the fsync() function fails, outstanding I/O operations are not guaranteed to have been completed.

ERRORS

The fsync() function will fail if: EBADF

The fildes argument is not a valid file descriptor.

EINTR

A signal was caught during execution of the fsync() function.

EIO

An I/O error occurred while reading from or writing to the file system.

ENOSPC

There was no free space remaining on the device containing the file.

ETIMEDOUT

Remote connection timed out. This occurs when the file is on an NFS file system mounted with the soft option. See mount_nfs(1M).

In the event that any of the queued I/O operations fail, fsync() returns the error conditions defined for read(2) and write(2).

USAGE

The fsync() function should be used by applications that require that a file be in a known state. For example, an application that contains a simple transaction facility might use fsync() to ensure that all changes to a file or files caused by a given transaction were recorded on a storage medium.

The manner in which the data reach the physical medium depends on both implementation and hardware. The fsync() function returns when notified by the device driver that the write has taken place.

ATTRIBUTES

See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attributes:

ATTRIBUTE TYPE ATTRIBUTE VALUE
Interface Stability Committed
MT-Level Async-Signal-Safe
Standard See standards(5).
SEE ALSO

mount_nfs(1M), read(2), sync(2), write(2), fcntl.h(3HEAD), fdatasync(3C), attributes(5), standards(5)